Brooks voted Bundesliga Player of the Week

Days after scoring the game-winning goal in Hertha Berlin’s 2-0 triumph over TSV Eintracht Braunschweig, Brooks was named the Bundesliga Player of the Week for Week 32 on Wednesday. Brooks earned 43.13% of the vote to beat out Marco Reus, Claudio Pizarro, Halil Altintop, Ivan Perisic and Johannes Geis for the award.

The 21-year-old centerback scored the winner against Eintracht Braunschweig in the 61st minute, helping Hertha Berlin post a second straight clean sheet and snap a nine-game winless run in league play.

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What do you think of Brooks being named Player of the Week? Think he will be included in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s preliminary World Cup camp? Do you see him making it to Brazil?

They named him Player of the Week over dudes like Reus and Antiltop… you think that was just because he scored a goal, as if a defender scoring is so rare that it automatically gets you player of the week honors?

Somehow I think the bat was set low, intentionally! If your a German soccer publication. and your country is playing in the World Cup against a nation that has a substantial amount of it’s players, good or even mediocre on the team you will be playing in the first round, and you can somehow influence the other teams selection, would you want the other team to select it’s mediocre/least experience player(s) for the game against you!

Yea, it falls under a “conspiracy theory” headline, but brooks has been OK on a bad team, but that can be said for quite a few other US players who won’t get a look see. But Brooks will, because he plays in the German Bundisliga. and for a coach who is German.

Wierder things have happened in this sport and I hope JK judges him on his overall performance and not on a publication hi-lite.

I like how klinsmann approaches plater selection. It always makes me people fight for their spots and it can only make other players better. I would love to see Omar step his game, and Brooks even more. The only concern I have is the cb pairing because playing together is important. Hopefully, training and the friendlies will help whatever cb pairing chosen to gel together nicely.

Not sure I want to experiment with Brooks in the World Cup. Defense is an area teams could least afford to experiment in a major tournament. I don’t have much faith in Gonzalez either. I would prefer Cameron moved to CB and Parkhurst at RB.

At this point, anyone we put out there as a CB pairing other than Besler/Gonzalez is an experiment. That doesn’t mean that that pairing is the answer, but there’s been so much shifting around of players back there that there is substantial uncertainty with any other pairing (and given Gonzalez’s play, substantial uncertainty in keeping that pairing too). The question is really which pairing minimizes risk to the point that we can cobble together a competent central defense with 2 centerbacks and our pairing of central midfielders.

Brooks may not be the answer (personally, I’m partial to Goodson with Besler), but I think our only option now is to bring everyone into camp (or at least, Besler, Gonzo, Goodson, Brooks, Orozco, and maybe Onyewu) and try to see if any combination of two players works as a temporary fix.

Gooch might be going to the World Cup and starting by default people are underestimating him. He’s finally coming off a season where he’s in rhythm and he’s by far the most experienced of the group. He’s played more games than Beasler (14), Gonzo (18), Brooks (3) and Parkurst (25) combined GOOCH HAS (69). Boca got old and Gooch has been inconsistent since 2010 and no one took his spot. Do you really think they’ll take it now? A slow Gooch that wasn’t match fit was competition for these guys. I’m not the least bit deceived even Beslers not safe. Ream is coming to take one of their spots too. They all had their chance even this newly crowned angel Parkurst. I think so fans are delusional and miss guided to even consider this guy. He was an extra camp body so the sub would have someone to practice with in during his prime in Germany and Denmark now suddenly people are crowning him as a possible starter. Even that soft glorified national team sub Goodson pisses me off. We’ve had 4 year to basically replace 2 guys Boca and Gooch and no one truly steped up to the plate. let’s be real for once SBI fans. We have a problem at CB they all either lacking or untested….. Someone add an Orozco rant for me.

A month ago Orozco was definitely giving me hope as another very viable option. He put together a very nice year with a very solid Gold Cup for the nats and been very good for club. He is very calm on the ball with good distribution out of the back and his defense has improved greatly. Unfortunately he has been hurt since early April…. not sure when he’s due back.

I don’t like playing guys out of their natural position any more than the next guy, but Cam is the one player I’d feel comfortable with if JK decided he was needed to start at CB.
BTW this has nothing to do with JAB, just that I think Cam is ready to answer the call at either spot

I like Cam, he is a great utility player. He always finds himself in the discussion to play 3 different positions for us. That capability is an asset, but I’d prefer to let him play the position he is currently most comfortable with.

Who is voting for payer of the week? The Hertha press release does not say.

Apparently, according to game reports, Brooks did have a good game defensively above and beyond his goal. But let’s not get carried away. This was against the worst team in the Bundesliga, Eintracht Braunschweig. In any case, one game is not a good measure of how he might do in the World Cup and I am still skeptical after his poor showings for the USMNT and his overall bad season at the club level. As Roy Hodgson said last week about his planned England roster and how he will not let a few games at the end of the season affect his roster selections: “You don’t become a good player over two games or a bad player over two games.”

Form does not matter. It’s all about that game on that day. What a player has done over the previous week or month is very little of an indication of what he is going to do on that day. Especially when it is for a different team in a completely different situation (World Cup vs. league match).

it appears you misunderstand the word “form.” If somebody has a single good game, it is just that, a good game. If somebody has multiple good games (generally, above his expected level of play) in relatively small period of time, he is in good form.

To say that form is not important is laughable. For example Gonzo has showed many excellent games, but has underperformed as of late. Now, due to his “poor form” his starting spot is in question.

More than “form,” you should look at match ups and what you think the player is capable of doing given the situation and the players around him. There is a lot to be said for confidence and that should play into the decision too of course, but judging a players current “form” as an indicator of how he will play in the future can be dangerously misleading.

“Form does not matter”. And there you have it. No need to watch any soccer. All this scouting and tracking.,,, worthless. Let’s all disband, turn the TV off, and agree that we should just throw some combination of healthy guys from the pool out there against Ghana and admit it’s all luck basically

C’mon now…Form matters. Come back to reality. For example… Do you mean to tell me that Clint Dempsey is not “in form” right now? Does he not look obviously sharper than everybody else on the field right now? Or any version of himself over the last 8 months?

It’s true that form can come to a halt abruptly… but all good things come to an end. If you have a hot hand you run with it, unless the decision is tactical. What other standard is better?

The second part I do agree with entirely. Club form and int’l form do not always connect. Sometimes the difference is so pronounced it defies belief.

There is a clear indicator of why Tores’ “form” dropped — do you remember his injury. Has not been the same player since. Not to mention, he is not necessarily a great fit with the way that Spain plays.

Besler and Brooks CB pairing could be very useful in a counter attack system. A lot can be said for Athletes. In 2002 we had Eddie Pope, a very fast CB. Besler looks like a lock to start, but I still would like to have another speedy CB to start too.

Brooks weakness in defense is what scares us. He seems stiff in the hips, doesn’t react very quickly. He has been caught out of position or been left standing still as an attacker score a few too many times for the limited number of reps he’s had. I’m not compeltely discounting the guys ability. He is 21 and playing in perhaps the best league in the world. He is a great prospect, and I have no problem with him competing for a starting job. I just don’t think he has enough experience yet.

Pretty sure it’s the Germans trying to bait Klinsi into taking Brooks who looked horrible in his last Nats outing. He has loads of potential but you don’t gamble on D. My guess is in the heat and humidity with looong travel times he can’t afford to take any grooming projects. We need fresh legs.